Building a $250 -300 computer

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vietkangta

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 18, 2005
Messages
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My g/f wants to get her brother a computer for around 200-250 max after shipping and tax.


1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
A bit of gaming, mostly web browsing and watching videos.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
200-250 with tax and shipping

3) Where do you live?
california

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Need all the parts that comes in computer case. cpu, ram, hdd, cd drive, case, psu

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
just reusing mouse and keyboard and lcd monitor.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Haven;t decided but maybe not

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
already have 22 inch

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
over christmas

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
No fancy feature, just basic motherboard that works well.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
YES


If someone can find a prebuilt computer that would work fine also. No rebates included please. Thank you.

I want something comparable to an intel e2160 or better.
 
The only way you're gonna get a $250 PC with all of the insides is if you go with some fantastically shitty parts. So do you want to build a fantastically shitty PC or a good PC for cheap? If good PC, you're gonna have to up your budget especially since tax and shipping is included.

Hit up DellOUtlet.com for used PCs or www.gotapex.com or www.slickdeals.net for PC deals.
 
Your budget is tough to work with unless your buying some used parts from the for sale forum. Something $350 would be more a tad more acceptable.

Anyhow this is what I try to come up with:

Rosewill mATX case = $25
ATHLON II X3 425 2.7GHz = $51
ASRock 785G mATX board = $80
Corsair 400CX = $50
Samsung F3 500GB SATAII = $55
LG DVD burner = $28

Total comes out to $294 (without memory).

Reason why I pick the AM3 board is because DDR3 is much cheaper if you know where to look. Look up ebay for micron 2GB DDR3-1066. You will find dozens of them (from a seller name dealtree-techstore) which the auctions usually land you around $17~$22 + free shipping. I doubt there is lifetime warranty but they are cheap and I have OC them to DDR3-1600 just fine. Running them at DDR3-1066 or DDR3-1333 won't be a problem.

Also if you try to build off a used parts you might looking at going towards DDR2 route which I try to stay away from since both new and used markets are expensive.

So if you go 2GB you are looking at $320~ and 4GB would be $340~

P.S. Your title of the thread and the pricing in your OP doesn't match. Title says $250 to $300 max and your post says $200 to $250.
 
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Do you live near a Fry's or Microcenter?

If you live near a Fry's, go with DTN's build, but get these instead:
$70 - AMD Athlon II X3 435 Processor & Gigabyte GA-M68M-S2 Motherboard
$45 - 4GB DDR2 G.Skill

The RAM is from the FS/T forum, so get it while its still available.
 
Damn thats some cheap DDR2 ram. Unfortunately it looks like it is gone. At that price I'm not surprise lol.
 
if i was you i would save my money and not buy Junk cause that is what your going to get at 250 bucks.
 
A lot of sub-$300 "light gaming" build requests knocking around the forums this week. Unfortunately, these expectations are simply too high. If you want a quality $300 build (which is still highly unlikely) any significant gaming will certainly be out of the question. Either you can stick to your guns on the price, and lose quality (and gaming capability), or stick with the performance/quality requirement and expand your budget a bit. Either way, I think $350 should be considered the minimum budget for any custom PC.

That said, here is a non-gaming build for $400.

59.99 Cooler Master RC-690 Mid-Tower Case
64.99 Antec BP550+ 550W Modular PSU
58.99 AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor Processor
79.99 ASUS M4A785-M AM3 785G mATX Motherboard
43.99 2GB Crucial DDR3-1066 RAM
46.99 250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 Hard Drive
28.99 LG SATA DVD Burner

SUB 383.93
TOTAL 397.62
 
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Yeah, unfortunately, the high ram prices make it impossible to create a decent entry-level gaming system for under $450. Some newer games these days want a full 2GB to themselves (or more), so 4GB is the minimum for anything built to game.

Moving to 4GB and a 4670 would probably add $100 to your $350 build.
 
TheQuestian said:
And realistically, it was really a $400 build to begin with, being that it was sans DVD drive. ;)
Click to expand...

But we could cut $55 off your build, by using components that wouldn't sacrifice reliability.

For example, this PSU costs over $20 less. It's only 350w, but it's a quality Seasonic, so it's definitely going to deliver the rated wattage (that includes 324w on the 12v line). It even has a PCIe power connector! Who needs more than that for a low-end gaming system with a dual-core CPU?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151075

As for the case, why not go low-end? It saves you over $30, and it just means you'll have a few sharp edges, and a few things that don't align perfectly.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811233063

If you remove the DVD drive, that's $85 off total, so the entry-level gaming build approaches $375! But you can't realistically do this, because installing Windows from a flash drive is a chore, and too many games assume you'll have a DVD drive for disc checks.

PROPOSED $400 GAMING BUILD:

$43 SeaSonic SS-350ES Bronze 350W
$25 GIGABYTE gz-ph3a3 Black SGCC ATX Mid Tower
58.99 AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor Processor
$80 MSI 785GM-E51 AM3 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX
$72 OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500)
46.99 250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 Hard Drive
28.99 LG SATA DVD Burner
$44 after MIR: ASUS EAH4670/DI/512MD3 Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit DDR3 *OR*
$49 no MIR required: POWERCOLOR AX4650 512MD2-H Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit DDR2

TOT: about $400

This is without a doubt the lowest you can go and still game. The 4670 is a much better card if you don't mind the MIR, but if you want the 4670 lowest price without MIR, this is the one you want.
 
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You're better off buying a used computer for that price or even an OEM refurb at a big box store.

...and by "bit of gaming", do you mean "real" games or stuff like Reflexive and Gamehouse?
 
TheQuestian said:
Heh, yes, but then to make it a "gaming" build, we'd have to reintroduce your video card, which would put us back where we started. :p
Click to expand...

Not the ones I added to the build. You're fixated on "high quality" here, when the poster obviously just wants "good enough." The 4650 and 4670 definitely qualify as "good enough," and should have the specs to run games for years to come. But this system has room to grow as needs change, even despite the 350w power supply: no bullshit, you could run a 5850 (150w max) and a quad-core Phenom II (95w TDP) on that if you wanted to.

Hey, at least we got *somewhat* closer to his requested build price. $400 is a lot easier to swallow than something in the $450-500 range. But I agree, if you don't care about building it yourself, buying a prebuilt system with a pcie x16 slot and just buying a 4670 will probably be cheaper.
 
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defaultluser said:
Hey, at least we got *somewhat* closer to his requested build price. $400 is a lot easier to swallow than something in the $450-500 range. But I agree, if you don't care about building it yourself, buying a prebuilt system with a PCIe x16 slot and just buying a 4670 will probably be cheaper.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I must have misunderstood some of your earlier posts (regarding upgrading RAM, etc.). I think we agree that a 4650/70 is the best card for this particular situation. And to the OP, I understand your desire to build. But whether you build yourself, or you go with one of the recommended cheap pre-builts, you are going to get what you pay for.
 
well my g/f's mom just upgraded the budget, Is there prebuilt computer that can go for around 400 something?

Her little brother wants to play gta4 on the pc and some modern warfare 2
 
vietkangta said:
well my g/f's mom just upgraded the budget, Is there prebuilt computer that can go for around 400 something?

Her little brother wants to play gta4 on the pc and some modern warfare 2
Click to expand...

Not to be an ass, but an Xbox 360 seems like the best option. No computer in the $400 segment will run GTA4 and MW2 well.
 
vietkangta said:
he also needs a new computer anyway. He's willing to run it low to medium quality.
Click to expand...

Even then, most $400 prebuilts are not meant for gaming at all. We're talking really low settings here.
 
No computer in the $400 segment will run GTA4 and MW2 well.
Click to expand...

I have to agree you will not find a pc in the 400 range to run GTA4 your better off snagging a 360 or ps3 in this case.
 
Buy a 360, and with the leftovers if he needs a new computer he could buy a nettop
 
vietkangta said:
well my g/f's mom just upgraded the budget, Is there prebuilt computer that can go for around 400 something?

Her little brother wants to play gta4 on the pc and some modern warfare 2
Click to expand...

if you build yourself and live near a Fry's...

$100 - HD 4830
$120 - Shuttle SN78SH7 GF8200 AM2+ DDR2 barebone XPC ($20MIR)
$58 - AMD AthlonII X2 240
$45 - 2GB DDR2-800
$55 - 500GB Samsung F3
$27 - DVDRW SATA
=========
$405 + tax and shipping - $20MIR
 
Can the Shuttle PSU handle the 4830? Should a 4770 be used instead?
 
450 said:
Can the Shuttle PSU handle the 4830? Should a 4770 be used instead?
Click to expand...

Yes, an HD 4770 would have been a better choice due to power consumption and performance, but it costs $20 more, and I was already at the budget limit without tax and shipping. :p At full load, the system should be under 240W with the HD4830. The card itself will draw 110W at most. If the OP can afford the extra $20, it would be a better choice since the card draws only 80W and performs on par with or better than the HD4830.
 
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